Smart News Ideas & Innovations

An unidentified player takes a putt at the original "Tom Thumb Golf" built by Garnet Carter.

The Brief 1930s Craze for 'Tom Thumb Golf'

Miniature golf courses had been around before, but Garnet Carter gave it a roadside attraction spin

This is the 517th Xerox model 917 ever made, donated to the Smithsonian in 1985.

Watch the Original 1959 Ad for the First Office-Ready Xerox Machine

When the Xerox 914 entered offices, the working world changed forever

The crew of Skylab 4 in August 1973. From left to right: astronaut Gerald Carr, who commanded the mission; scientist-astronaut Edward Gibson; astronaut William Pogue.

Mutiny in Space: Why These Skylab Astronauts Never Flew Again

In 1973, it was the longest space mission — 84 days in the stars. But at some point the astronauts just got fed up

Trending Today

Japan Plans to Make Olympic Medals Out of Electronic Waste

Organizers hope to reclaim gold, silver and copper from the used electronics for the 2020 games

This paper plane could one day change the way the U.S. military handles one-way supply missions.

Cool Finds

Why the Military Is Investing in Paper Airplanes

Disposable drones could save lives—and money

This 1976 photograph shows a woman receiving a vaccination during the nationwide swine flu vaccination campaign.

The Next Pandemic

The Long Shadow of the 1976 Swine Flu Vaccine 'Fiasco'

Some, but not all, of the hesitance to embrace vaccines can be traced back to this event more than 40 years ago

Mary Leakey and her husband Louis in 1962.

Mary Leakey’s Husband (Sort of) Took Credit For Her Groundbreaking Work On Humanity’s Origins

Leakey and her husband, Louis Leakey, were a paleoanthropology power couple

View of La Danta—one of the world's largest pyramids—located in the Mirador Basin.

LiDAR Scans Reveal Maya Civilization's Sophisticated Network of Roads

Detailed aerial images reveal a remarkably ambitious transportation network consisting of 17 roads

Preening automaton

Cool Finds

This Robotic Silver Swan Has Fascinated Fans for Nearly 250 Years

It preens, fishes and impresses

Appert devised the canning process using that old standby, trial-and-error.

The Father of Canning Knew His Process Worked, But Not Why It Worked

Nicolas Appert was trying to win a hefty prize offered by the French army

Part of a 1949 ad for Scotch tape, which was billed as a "thrifty" way to make repairs around the home.

Scotch Tape Can Create X-Rays, and More You Didn't Know About The Sticky Stuff

People have used it to repair everything from curtains to ceilings

Balloon prints like this one, of the Great Nassau “enable us to share some sense of the excitement that gripped those watching their fellow beings rise into the sky for the first time,” writes Tom D. Crouch of the National Air and Space Museum.

A Picture History of One of the World’s Greatest Hot Air Balloons

Designed by Charles Green, the Great Nassau was big enough to capture the imaginations of an entire country

Douglas Engelbart rehearsing for his 1968 computer demo.

In One 1968 Presentation, This Inventor Shaped Modern Computing

Douglas Engelbart’s career was about seeing the possibilities of what computing could do for humanity

There are few images of the top-secret map room. This one, taken at the end of WWII, shows Army Chief Warrant Officer Albert Cornelius standing before a map of Europe.

Take a Rare Look Inside FDR’s WWII Information Center: The Map Room

Long before Google Earth, this was how the president saw the world

Hyman G. Rickover created the U.S. Navy's nuclear program, but remained ambivalent about it throughout his life

Happy(?) Birthday to the Father of the Nuclear Navy

Hyman G. Rickover pushed to nuclearize the Navy's submarines, but admitted he’d rather ‘sink them all’ to protect humanity

The little black graphene dress

Trending Today

The LBD Gets an Update With the Debut of the First Dress Made with Graphene

Partially made from the world's thinnest, strongest material, lights on the dress change color based on the wearer's breathing rate

Fred Marriott in his modified Stanley Steamer, the Rocket, shortly before he broke the land-speed record.

Why Did People Think Steam-Powered Cars Were a Good Idea?

In the early days, steam cars were as common as gas ones. Why aren’t we driving them today?

An undated box that originally held Eskimo Fudge Pies.

The Weird, Brief History of the Eskimo Pie Corporation

It was America’s first chocolate-covered ice cream bar, patented on this day in 1922

Microscope not included.

Cool Finds

This Necklace Contains All of the World’s Languages

Because cultural preservation never goes out of fashion

Samuel Zemurray was sometimes called "The Banana Man."

Where We Got the Term “Banana Republic”

Hint: it’s not a great moment in American history

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